Marxism and Education Essay Example for Free

Marxism and Education Essay The Marxist perspective of education in society can be very questionable because Marxist theorists such as; Louis Althusser, Bowles and Gintis, David Reynolds and Willis all seem to disagree with one another. The first thing I will write about are the strengths. The strengths about the Marxist view are it points out how ideology is transmitted within school via the hidden curriculum, how education legitimises class inequality, it points out the inequalities of both opportunity and outcome on the system and it exposes the myth of meritocracy. From these points I can tell that it tries to believe that teachers are a kind of agent who are trying to wrong the children. Louis Althusser believed that education is an ideological apparatus designed to control children by brainwashing them. Applying this idea allows the hidden curriculum to transmit values which are not intentionally designed to happen. With class inequality it shows that schools are planting a job title on children which will link to their background. For example, a kid from the working class may get a job working at a car manufactures, while a kid from upper class may get a job as a lawyer. But, this really exposes the idea of meritocracy where if you do well at school you will get a good job as a reward. Now, I will write about the weaknesses. The weaknesses are that many working class children do succeed in the education system. It overemphasises class and ignores other structural inequalities: ethnicity and gender, post-modernists would argue that education reproduces diversity not inequality and Marxists cant seem to agree with each other at all. From these points I can tell that Marxists believe that working class children are a lot less smarter than upper class people but actually this isnt true because you dont need to be a higher class to be smarter than anyone else it takes the person to be determined to do it themselves. Also, the teacher could show a lot more favouritism to a specific gender in the class like girls or just as easily be based on the colour of their skin. So, you could be the smartest person in the class but you may be a black girl and I may not pick on you. Post-modernists on the other hand also argue that education reproduces diversity meaning people may not be picked on because of their disability etc. Finally, my last point is that none of the Marxist theorists cant agree with each other because each theorist believes that their theory is correct and go out trying to criticise everyone else. For example, Bowles and Gintis were criticised by Willis stating that their research wasnt in depth enough but he could easily be criticised for only researching 12 boys.

Maxis Market Opportunity

Maxis Market Opportunity Maxis communications company, is Malaysias largest mobile service provider, or about forty percent of the Malaysian mobile phone market. The company providing a wide range of innovative mobile, fixed and international network services to their customers. Besides that, Maxis was first telecommunication company who launched the 3G services, such as 3G connect Card, PC Webmail, Video Mail and 3G prepaid. It is founded in year 1993. Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd , which the founder is Ananda Krishnan who are one of the richest man in Malaysia. In 1999, Maxis create the popular prepaid brand Hotlink, which currently has 10 Million customers. In 2002, Maxis purchased from Timecel, a competitor mobile service provider. Before the purchase, Maxis offered phone numbers beginning with 012, and TimeCell 017. Now, user can choose between the two. In 2007, The company in preparation for expansions into the Indonesian and Indian markets. In 2009, The initial public issue and which constitute 30% of the com pany under the close supervision of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. STRATEGY Maxis believe that its extensive customers based strong hold in the high value segments, high quality network and services, effective distribution, recognize brands equity and resulting strong cash flow generation will allow it to consolidate its position as the market leader. Firstly, Maxis focused on conducting business responsibly in the marketplace .Secondly, nurturing talents and developing their potential in the workplace and contributing towards the communities. Lastly, doing their part to mitigate the impact of Maxis operations on the environment. OBJECTIVE Become the leading provider of convergence solutions for enterprises in Malaysia.   Become leading mobile communication service provider in Malaysia. MISSION Today -Malaysias leading mobile communications service provider. Tomorrow -The nations premier integrated communications service provider. VISION To bring the future to our customers lives and business, in a manner that is simple, personalised and enriching, by efficiently and creatively harnessing leading-edge technology and delivering a brand of service experience that is reliable and enchanting. TARGET MARKET However it is found that most student range from 7-18 are using Digi. While the user range of 19-35 are using Maxis. Maxis company involved in a wide range, suitable for businessmen. Product Maxis provide a variety of products and services in mobile communication flied, such as prepaid  call plans, monthly subscription plans,  global roaming,  MMS,  WAP  (over both  GSM  and  GPRS), Residential Fixed Line services,  Broadband  Internet plans. It was the first to launch 3G services to both prepaid and postpaid subscription customers. Besides that, they offer  VSAT  services (satellite based communications) and  BlackBerry  based mobile services besides regular services. Maxis also provide an online Music store for its customers to use it. Maxis most popular service is its prepaid brand Hotlink and focus on the segment of students, family and friend, working adults and business field. Thus, its branding was set up year by year. So far, Maxis is well-known. Product Life Cycle 2.jpg When a product reaches maturity, sales growth slows and sales volume eventually peaks and stability. This is the stage during which the market as a whole makes the most profit. A companys primary objective at this point is to defend market share while maximize profit. In this stage, prices tend to drop due to increased competition. Maxiss fixed costs are low because it is has well established production and distribution. Since the brand of maxis awareness is strong, marketing expenditure might be reduced, although increased marketing expenditure might be needed to retain market share and fight increasing competition. Expenditure on research and development is likely to be restricted to product modification and improvement, and perhaps research into improved production efficiency and product quality. Promotion The main Maxis promotion is through the promoter to help us push up the Maxiss market share. Those promoters will go into Maxis use the sponsor to let the brand to be more awareness such as: Maxis is official telco sponsor for badminton association of Malaysia. Maxis sponsorship will contribute to Badminton Association of Malaysias development program and create opportunities for new talent to be nurtured and be prepared for competition at the various international badminton circuits. Maxis is pleased to play a part in achieving Badminton Association of Malaysias objectives and goals as well as sustaining success on the court. As a sponsor, Maxis will be supporting Badminton Association of Malaysia in its development program such as running of the training facilities, payment for coaches as well as running costs for the association in participating in various tournaments. Maxis also provide scholarship for the brightest graduate student to pursue their courses in every University in order to promote their company. Maxis also trying to find celebrities to help us increase their brand awareness such as, Datos Lee Chong Wei, Frank Lampard and Lionel Messi. Maxis also focus on planning, they always launch a lot of package for customer, such as Value Plus 50, Value Internet Plus 50. It can increase the awareness of customer, and let the customers to become their users. Besides that, Maxis also use the social media to promote their new product for the youngsters, such as Internet, Radio and Television Advertisement. For the odd, they will give them some handbook which clearly list out the latest product for them. Community event is one of the promotions, such as the Maxis Cyberkids Camp 2010. In this camp, the Maxis featured its broadband products and educational programmes. Distribution Channels In a competitive and complex communications industry, the variety change of technological innovation is no any single one company can survive if it operates alone. And Maxis has known about the need to work with a range of different partners locally and globally to broaden out range of offerings and to enhance our capabilities as the preferred communications solutions provide. According to Maxis website, it has 250 outlets in Malaysia to serve their customer. The main distributions channels of Maxis are ZyXEL communications Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd, ZyXEL will help Maxis to provide a value-added service in order to succeed in broadband market and bring out the outstanding performance solutions at the most competitive price. Advanced Broadband Communications Sdn Bhd, they help Maxis to provide total telecommunication solutions and services for both conventional IP Systems. They also will develop the all IP-based solutions and services are targeted at business and personal users at any levels. Techscience Consultants Services Sdn Bhd, they provide multi dimensional business solution. The Maxis Partner including application providers, content providers and system Integrators. The application providers provide solution, application and tools to customer propositions. The content providers enhance the valuable information to business by providing information anywhere, anytime and on any device. The System Integrators have industry, domain and application specific-expertise backed up to integrate business solutions. They are including DynaFront, OPTEGRA, QuickNet com and so on. The Maxis Alliances including technology partner, device hardware partner and consulting partner. The technology partner provides base functionality and interoperability of software, infrastructure and development tool. The device hardware partner provide the ever changing device and hardware necessary. The consulting partner provides the specialized and consulting service in specific field and specific knowledge. They are including HP, IBM, Microsoft and so on. Price The objective of pricing strategy is based on firm earning and needs of market. Meanwhile, it is also foundation of the pricing strategy. The Maxiss pricing objectives including profitability objective, its purpose is to maximize the profit and target return. The volume objective, its purpose is to maximize quantity and become market share leader. Thus, the psychological pricing strategy is most being used by Maxis. Psychological pricing is designed to appeal to customers who use emotional rather than rational responses to pricing messages. For Example, Maxis sell the mobile phone at RM999, RM1199. It will make customer to believe the price is cheaper and attract them to buy it. Besides that, it allows Maxis to influence customers view a product without the need to actually the product. Maxis is considered as a dominant company, thus, they also use high pricing strategy to sell their product in order to make more profit to the Maxis. Market opportunity of maxis Market opportunity means that newly identified need, want, or demand trend that a firm can exploit because it is not being addressed by the competitors.There are two market opportunity for Maxis in order to increase their company revenue and profit. Now days, Maxis had launch many device promotion and plan to attract and also increase their customers. Such as Maxis company is launching some Apples company product and also some latest android smart phone. Although the product are not manufacturing by them, but they use this opportunity to attract customer because in days right now, smart phone is playing an important role among the people, it helps people a lot in their daily life such as reading mail in everywhere at any time, and also can access to internet for information easily. But the problem is the price for a smart phone is expensive and are not affordable by many people, so Maxis company had launch the package for purchasing the smart phone in a low price and also at the same time their customer can enjoy the internet which are include in the package. So this attract many people who decide to take the package that Maxis offer because it is useless with a smart phone without internet, if a people buy a smart phone, he wil l also need to sign up a internet package but in this case, Maxis had launch a two in one package to convenience their customer. Besides that, Maxis Company is also up to trend. Because they are not just launching Apples product but they are also launching others smart phone such as Blackberry and also Samsungs smart phone. Others than smart phone, Maxis is launching tablet device in different package such as Samsung tab and also Ipad. This will attract many people especially the generation youth and the generation x to purchase and sign up their package. The second market opportunity that Maxis created is the 3G wireless broadband plans. This wireless broadband is actually for laptop or computer to access to internet at home or everywhere because the broadband need not to charge battery before use and also it also can function without putting a switch to the wall to have electric. It just only needs to plug in to the laptop USB drive to work. This wills convenience people who are travelling to other state in Malaysia and also are very suitable for business and personal use. The package is cheap comparing to others company and the coverage of Maxis is Malaysia is very strong. Maxis is also launching the fourth generation mobile phone communication standard which we called it 4G in the year 2013. With the latest technology of 4G, it will be faster to download and also access to internet comparing to 3G. So Maxis also grasp this opportunity in market and they are also starting their Research and development in order to launching the latest 4G in the market to increase their customer, their sales volume, their revenue and also the most important is to compete with their competitors such as Tm Unifi, Digi broadband, P1 Wimax, Celcom Broadband and others company that exist in the Market. Recommendation for maxis First of all, it is recommended that Maxis take immediate measures to launch smartphone plan in its call plan or internet plan. In fact, according to a March 2010 Nielson survey, more than 50 percent of Americans own smartphones. The smartphone offered in market are mainly from two major players which is Googles Android and Apples iPhone.Salodow, K. (2012). Approximately half of all respondents had a smartphone at the time of the ABI survey. Projections for market penetration indicate that by 2015, three-quarters of business  users will be toting smartphones.Barnes, N., Barnes, F. (2012).Besides, Blackberry smartphone also can take into account. The growth of mobile smartphone is pretty amazing. By offering these smartphone in low priced together with Maxis plan package, this would attract a lot more new customer to subscribe to Maxis plan. After they started to use Maxis service, they might find the service is affordable and continue to use Maxis service in a long term. Due to th e interpersonal determinants of consumer behavior, when everyone has a smartphone, this would influence one another to own a smartphone too. If Maxis offer an affordable price for these smartphone together with a package plan, there would be a lot of customer will consider subscribing the package. Well, smartphone will always introducing the new series of its model. The result of that are smartphone model and package plan must be always up to date in order to catch customer attention. The growth of users of Maxis would be huge and this might leads to a profitable outcome. Other than launching smartphone plans, it is also recommended that Maxis should focus on its 3G wireless broadband plans. Internet has fundamentally altered the way the world interacts and communicates. Internet use has grown up not only in total numbers, but also in terms of per capita usage. Maxis also signs up Siemens for 3G expansion.Maxis had invested US$108m on a controlled roll-out of its 3G network following service launch in July.Dennis, W. (2005).This shows that the network coverage of Maxis is improving rapidly. The purpose of doing this is to extend its maxis 3G coverage to more areas in the country. Maxis CEO, Jamaludin Ibrahim says the company will first focus on the states of Johor, Penang and the Klang valley before going nationwide over a period of two to five years, depending on the success rate in the initial key areas. Dennis, W. (2005). With the proper improvement done by Maxis, the 3G service that offered by Maxis would meet customer expectation in the future. Rapid advances in mobile Internet technologies now allow consumers to interact, create, and share content based on physical location. Such ubiquitous access tothe mobile Internet also provides companies with new marketing opportunities. Ghose, A., Sang Pil H. (2011).Therefore, Maxis should offer more different kind of quota package in order to satisfy their customer needs. With a higher internet quota package, it might cost a little bit more. It leads to a better profit. Furthermore, Maxis is looking to launch its 4G service early next year in 2013. This is a good market opportunity for Maxis to attract more customers with this brand new service. Therefore, Maxis should spend a little more on their advertisement in order to promote this upcoming service. The purpose of these advertisement made is not just for promoting the service, but also to explain how 4G works and the benefits of using it. In  telecommunications,  4G  is the fourth generation of  mobile phone  mobile communications  standards. With hold, Maxis has entered into an infrastructure and spectrum sharing agreement which will enable customers to speed up the development of their 4G LTE mobile networks. Once it built, its 4G LTE will be able to deliver the fastest mobile data connectivity not just in Malaysia, but the region with transmission rates up to 150mbps. LTE networks can handle twice the traffic of most 3G  networks, the proliferation of smartphones, tablets, and video-streaming and cloud-computing services will drive up demand for mobile data eighteenfold through 2016, according to Cisco.Burrows, P. (2012).It is an advance service which could meet heavy internet users expectation. It is a successor of the  third generation  (3G) standards. Therefore, the charges will be cost slightly higher than 3G service. Above all mentioned are the recommendation that suits Maxis to increase their profit and also attract more customers. The basic objective of business is to develop, produce and supply goods and services to customers. This has to be done in such a way as to allow companies to make a profit. In conclusion, Maxis must always come out with new ideas and practice it different ways in order to sustained in the market.Only profitable companies are sustainable in the long term and capable of creating goods, services, processes, return on capital, work opportunities and a tax base. Conclusion At last, we know that the Maxis SDN BHD is a very good company by its use the strategic to all the customer. And control their worker to give the customer the best, let the customer satisfied to its company. And the manager monitor their worker to accomplish the mission. Maxis always do the promotion to let the goodwill of maxis is increasing. The product of maxis is always up to date let the customer can change the plan and to change the mobile phone such as iphone 5 and the data plan of maxis. Maxis also manage the distribution channel to meet the customer demand. The Maxiss pricing objectives including profitability objective, its purpose is to maximize the profit and target return. The volume objective, its purpose is to maximize quantity and become market share leader. Thus, the psychological pricing strategy is most being used by Maxis. And we recommendation to maxis, that are our people need and want by now. So if the maxis can do that, we think maxis is the leader of the mobi le communications service provider. References Bibliography MAXIS IS OFFICIAL TELCO SPONSOR FOR BADMINTON ASSOCIATION OF MALAYSIA. (2012, November 5). Retrieved november 13, 2012, from Maxis: http://www.maxis.com.my/mmc/index.asp?fuseaction=press.viewrecID=621 Product Life Cycle model. (2009, january 25). Retrieved november 13, 2012, from tomspencer: http://www.tomspencer.com.au/2009/01/25/product-life-cycle-model/ Vison Value. (2012). Retrieved november 13, 2012, from Maxis: http://www.maxis.com.my/personal/about_us/profile/vision.asp?iStruct=0:0:0 Arumugam, T. (2012, March 04). Marketing plan for maxis. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/TanuArumugam/marketing-plan-for-maxis MANUFACTURING STRATEGY. (2012, February 29). Retrieved November 11, 2012 , from manustrategy: http://manustrategy.blogspot.com/2012/02/maxis-strategy-and-swot-analysis.html Pricing Setting Prices Pricing Objectives. (2012, October 24). Retrieved November 13, 2012, from tutor2u: http://www.tutor2u.net/business/gcse/marketing_pricing_objectives.html Maxis Communications. (2012, November 15). Retrieved November 16, 2012 , from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxis_Communications Dennis, W. (2005). HYNIX BACK ON TRACK. lEE Review , 1. The iPhone/Android Hits the DR Market. (2012). responsemagazine , 1-6. Smartphone Technologies. (2012). INFORMATIONMANAGEMENT , 1-7. An Empirical Analysis of User Content Generation. (2011). MANAGEMENT SCIENCE , 1-22.

Best Friend Poetry :: essays research papers

Not There I stare at you across the room I see your warming face I try to see the inside you hide Your feelings I try to embrace I realize as I look at you As I just sit and stare I can see you perfectly clear But for some reason you're not there I see your eyes, I see your face But yet I can not see Your loving inside that you had I can't see your personality I realize how much that you have changed How you don't seem to care I stare at you across the room But yet you are not there I knew someday it would have to end I knew eventually I would have to go back to calling you friend It's killing me that now that day has come If it's for the best then where is this pain from I know deep inside that this is what I had to do but it's breaking my heart to walk away from you I'm trying my best to appear strong but it's hard when part of me says that in your arms is where I belong I still love you with all my heart that's not going to change even though we're apart You were my first love and my first kiss There are so many of our special times I'm going to miss All the words I ever said or wrote still hold true But for now from a distance is where I'll be loving you I think you need me as a friend to help you through because there are things I can't control that are hurting you We both have issues no one knows of neither of us had the strength to be true to our love Maybe we will be together again if it was meant to be but for now please don't stop loving me Even though I'm not your girlfriend I'll still be here With a shoulder to cry on or a sympathetic ear The story of love can be quicker than the blink of an eye But our story of won't love be over until the day that we die Until We Meet Again I'm not sure if you know or not But I really do love you a lot. You still hold a special place in my heart And you did, right from the start.

Of mice and men :: English Literature

Of mice and men =============== "Of mice and men" is a very touching film of hopes dreams and friendship. Adapted from the novel by John Steinbeck. The film is about two friends, Lennie and George, with a dream of great times with their own land and house. But there is a another story intertwined with theirs, about what people think of women. The two stories together will hold you in an array of emotions from joy to sorrow, and pride to guilt. This film if full of brilliant acting and meaningful uses of light and props. Of the two stories we will look at the one about women. We open the film with a man sitting in the shadows. Little light is coming in through the slits in the wood he is leaning on. He looks depressed and upset and bows his head as if he's trying to recall his memories of what went wrong to lead to this depression. And then we are suddenly in a field with early evening light filling a beautiful landscape, the main focus of our attention is of the woman running across the picture, she's white with brown hair wearing a torn red dress. As she runs we can see she's trying to run away form something or somebody, she's crying and the only sound we hear is her distressed breathing like she wants to cry but is holding the tears back. She looks like she has been attacked, although the dress is torn we only see a petty coat and not any flesh so this suggests that it might not have been sexual. But we can't really say for sure. The red dress represents passion so this says it could be sexual. We the see the two main characters running so we now think that they are connected to this. We never see this woman again in the whole of the story. The next woman we find is first only known as 'Curly's wife'. She first comes into the story when she enters the bunkhouse where Lennie and George have only just arrived and are unpacking. She's wearing a flowery dress which could be seen as innocent as it is cool colours and doesn't reveal much of her figure. Her hair is also in a very feminine style again to show innocence. "I'm looking for curly" she says, almost as if she needs an excuse for being there. But also at the same time using it in an almost flirty sort of way trying to see how the new boys will react. "He was in here a minute ago, but he left" George replies cutting off

EMF Radiation: Serious Health Hazard for People Essay -- Technology, E

Technology changes everything in this world. Our life has become more convenient and more efficiency which benefits by these new technology. But during this time, some people have considered about some risks of these technologies. EMF radiation is one of them. People have argued for a long time that whether EMF radiation really poses health hazard or not. I insist that EMF radiation is harmful for people’s health and particularly to young children. This opinion can be well proved by all the information I have searched and more people should know about this. First, it’s important to know what EMF radiation is. The full name of EMF is Electromagnetic fields. It’s a kind of area that we may be involved into every time we watching TV, using cell phone, turning on a light switch or using an electric appliance. EMF is a generic term of force generated by magnetic fields or electrical charges. Sometimes, EMF can be considered as a kind of radiation when release energy. When we use some electric appliances, the electromagnetic waves of these appliances will change periodically and produce enough energy to cause ionization. As we all known, ionization can dislodge orbiting electrons from atoms or break bonds which hold molecules together and then producing ions or charged particles. During this process, the production of ions or ionization in our tissues may cause direct damage to cells and cause other health risks. So EMF radiation is also called ionizing radiation. (DCMNR, 2005) This conception maybe a little bit confusing, but i t’s easy to find out that EMF really produces some extra electrons or magnetic field which we have never seen before. So scientists began to do some experiments to figure out that whether EMF has health hazar... ... kind of radiation does mobile phone product. The World Health Organization (WHO) definite the EMF radiation standard as a kind of limitation from electronic devices or of human exposure time from all kind of devices. (WHO, 2006) The exposure standard is basic standard of personal protection in maximum levels. So the EMF can be variety and uncertain. No matter the opponents aware or not, just provide for a rainy day. Technology is a double-edged sword. It can provide us convenient while it may affect our health at the same time. Fortunately, some kind of technology such like EMF radiation has been proved to be harmful and people can prevent it from now on. From my study I am sure that EMF radiation can poses a health hazard for people especially for children and teenagers. All people who really care about their health and their children should know this fact.

Henry Morton Stanley

Nathan C. Thompson EUH1001 Feb 28, 2012 Dr. W. Moody Henry Morton Stanley Born John Rowlands in Wales, or as those of his time knew him as Henry Morton Stanley; was the illegitimate son of John Rowlands and Elizabeth Parry. He grew up partly in the charge of reluctant relatives, partly in St. Asaph Workhouse. After his interlude of dependence on relatives, he sailed from Liverpool as a cabin boy, landing at New Orleans in 1859. There Rowlands was befriended by a merchant, Henry Hope Stanley, whose first and last names the boy adopted in an apparent effort to make a fresh start in life with a new identity; â€Å"Morton† was added later.For some years Stanley led a roving life; a soldier in the American Civil War, a seaman on merchant ships and in the U. S. Navy, a journalist in the early days of frontier expansion. In 1867 Stanley offered his services to James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herald as a special correspondent with the British expeditionary force sent against Tewo dros II of Ethiopia, and Stanley was the first to report the fall of Magdala in 1868.An assignment to report the Spanish Civil War followed, and in 1869 he received instructions to undertake a roving commission in the Middle East, which was to include the relief of Dr. David Livingstone, of whom little had been heard since his departure for Africa in 1866 to search for the source of the Nile. On Jan. 6, 1871, Stanley reached Zanzibar, the starting point for expeditions to the interior, and, intent on a scoop, left on March 21 without disclosing his intentions.His secretive conduct caused much offense to the authorities, especially to Sir John Kirk, the British consul, who had been having difficulty in making contact with Livingstone. Leading a well-equipped caravan and backed by American money, Stanley forced his way through country disturbed by fighting and stricken by sickness to Ujiji on Lake Tanganyika, Livingstone's last known port of call. There he found the old hero, ill and short of supplies, and greeted him with the famous words â€Å"Dr. Livingstone, I presume? A cordial friendship sprang up between the two men, and when Stanley returned to the coast he dispatched fresh supplies to enable Livingstone to carry on. The older man's quest ended a year later with his death in the swamps of Lake Bangweulu still vainly seeking the Nile in a region that in fact gives rise to the Congo (Zaire) River. When Livingstone died in 1873, Stanley resolved to take up the exploration of Africa where he had left off. The problem of the Nile sources and the nature of the central African lakes had been only partly solved by earlier explorers.Stanley secured financial backing from the New York Herald and the Daily Telegraph of London for an expedition to pursue the quest, and the caravan left Zanzibar on Nov. 12, 1874, heading for Lake Victoria. His visit to King Mutesa I of Buganda led to the admission of Christian missionaries to the area in 1877 and to the eventual est ablishment of a British protectorate in Uganda. Circumnavigating Lake Victoria, Stanley confirmed the explorer John H. Speke's estimate of its size and importance.Skirmishes with suspicious tribes people on the lakeshore, which resulted in a number of casualties, gave rise in England to criticism of this new kind of traveler with his journalist's outlook and forceful methods. Lake Tanganyika was next explored and found to have no connection with the Nile system. Stanley and his men pressed on west to the Lualaba River (the very river that Livingstone had hoped was the Nile but that proved to be the headstream of the Congo).There they joined forces with the Arab trader Tippu Tib, who accompanied them for a few laps downriver, then left Stanley to fight his way first to Stanley Pool (now Malebo Pool) and then (partly overland) down to the great cataracts he named Livingstone Falls. Stanley and his men reached the sea on Aug. 12, 1877. Failing to enlist British interests in the develop ment of the Congo, Stanley took service with the king of Belgium, Leopold II, whose secret ambition it was to annex the region for himself.From August 1879 to June 1884 Stanley was in the Congo basin, where he built a road from the lower Congo up to Stanley Pool and launched steamers on the upper river. (It is from this period, when Stanley persevered in the face of great difficulties, that he earned, from his men, the nickname of Bula Matari [â€Å"Breaker of Rocks†]). Originally under international auspices, Stanley's work was to pave the way for the creation of the Congo Free State, under the sovereignty of King Leopold.Author Laura Benet does not disappoint us with this extensive study formerly know John Rowlands in Wales, Stanley's boyhood was harried by poverty, by relatives who treated him as a thorn in the side and by tough years in a workhouse- not the best of conditions for growing up. Amazingly unembittered by this, John went as a youth to New Orleans and had the g ood fortune to go to work for Henry Morton Stanley, a southern merchant who adopted him and whose name John later took. Still another set back, the Civil War, was not enough to dispirit the new Henry Stanley, who found himself in post war years a reporter for the New York Herald.First assignments sent him to Abyssinia and Spain and then the hunt for Livingstone geared the rest of his life as the reporter explorer who left his mark on the opening up of Africa. For an exciting biography, the author dug deep into Stanley's life and made him a full personality in these pages, without ignoring the challenges each journey entailed. I personally found this book to be a very interesting read, it kept me intrigued and involved with an attraction that intensified with each depiction of the stories.I would recommend this book to all readers young and old. For the summary I chose stories about Stanley's most memorable adventures like the search for Livingston, the journey through Africa, and Ki ng Leopold's covert purchase of African territory for best locations. Those stories really helped put Stanley into greatness due to the impact they made, he saved David Livingston, a Nation hero; also help jump start the â€Å"Race for Africa† for King Leopold; all this aside from the fact that he was quite the reporter/adventure/identity thief.

A Theorist in Management: Henry Mintzberg Essay

Henry Mintzberg can be described as a guru of management and business studies including managerial and national culture, organization and structure, strategy and planning. He was born in 1939 and since 1968 has been teaching in McGill University in Montrà ©al. Henry Mintzberg is the author of thirteen books including â€Å"The Nature of Managerial Work† (1973), â€Å"Structure in 5’s: Designing Effective Organization† (1983), â€Å"The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning† (1994), â€Å"Strategy Bites Back† (2005), etc. Also, Henry Mintzberg is the author of more than 140 articles and twice winner of the McKinsey Award (Witzel, 2003). Most of his theories, Henry Mintzberg has based on human approach to management. During 1970s, Henry Mintzberg made extensive surveys of existing research and integrated those findings with his own studies of five chief executive officers in his attempts to find how managers spend their time and perform their work. The results were interesting and help the understanding of the nature of the man ­agerial task. In â€Å"The Nature of Managerial Work† Mintzberg singles out three managerial roles: interpersonal, Informational and decisional. A manager’s interpersonal roles include that of a figurehead, performing cere ­monial duties. Mintzberg thought that this was possibly the most important and classified this aspect into three roles – role of â€Å"disseminator†, company representative or â€Å"spokesman† role, and â€Å"monitor† role. A manager’s decisional roles can be of four types: as an entrepreneur – to launch a new idea; as a disturbance handler; as a resource allocator – choosing from among competing demands for money, equipment, personnel and management time; as a negotiator (Witzel, 2003). Also, Mintzberg highlights the changing, uncertain environment in which the manager operates and the importance of organizational structure. According to Henry Mintzberg, the organizations can be based on: simple structure; machine bureaucracy; professional bureaucracy; divisional zed form; adhocracy.  In â€Å"The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning† Mintzberg has proposed new vision of â€Å"strategy† underlining the importance of: processes, data and detachment in planning. Also, Mintzberg criticizes formalization as the main mistake and drawback of modern management. References Witzel, M. (2003) Fifty Key Figures in Management. New York: Routledge.